WINSFORD’S Manchester City goalkeeper Sandy MacIver is on track to make her debut for Scotland.

The 25-year-old former Weaverham High School student has switched her allegiance from England and been selected in the Scotland squad for the forthcoming Women’s Nations League matches against the Netherlands.

She is eligible to make the change due to her father being Scottish and through having only represented the Lionesses at senior level in a friendly against Northern Ireland two years ago.

Having withdrawn from the Lionesses’ squad in April with an injury, MacIver then the following month announced she was making herself ‘unavailable for England selection moving forward’, adding that her focus was on her rehabilitation.

The ex-Everton Ladies stopper is now a first-time call-up in the Scotland squad, with Pedro Martinez Losa’s side scheduled to take on the Netherlands in Nijmegen on Friday, October 27, and then again at Hampden Park the following Tuesday to continue their Group A1 campaign.

It is a campaign which started with a 2-1 loss to England in Sunderland, before drawing 1-1 with Belgium at Hampden.

MacIver represented England throughout the age groups from under 17s level but got to represent the country of her birth at senior level for the only time in a 6-0 demolition of Northern Ireland in a friendly at St George's Park in Staffordshire in February, 2021.

She came off the bench to feature between the posts for the final 29 minutes.

MacIver first started attracting media attention as a 13-year-old.

She took part in the torch relay ahead of the London 2012 Games as it went through Chester.

Things seemed to go full circle when she was selected as a travelling reserve for the Great Britian team in the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

Nine months earlier she won the player-of-the-match award although her then Everton side were beaten 3-1 by Manchester City after extra-time in the Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley.

Her route to the top has been different to most.

MacIver actually started out as a striker.

She began playing for a boys club when she was six, before progressing to the Crewe Alexandra academy.

There she had her first taste of playing in goal, before getting through trials at Everton and later switching to Manchester City before moving to the USA to study in 2016.

“I played for a while in the Crewe Alexandra academy and in my last year there we needed some goalkeeping cover – so I played in one of the games and I wasn’t that bad," she said in a previous interview.

“At the end of that season I had to try and find a new club so I was trialling as a keeper, which in hindsight was probably a bit of a risk, and Everton picked me up.

“I played there for four years and then played one more year at Manchester City before I moved to the USA.”

MacIver accepted a scholarship to play for the Clemson University college team in South Carolina.

There she quickly established herself as the number-one keeper for the Tigers but was still making frequent trips back home as she worked her way up the England development teams.

Upon graduation MacIver was offered a contract by former club Everton and made her professional debut for the Toffees in a 3-1 Women’s Super League win over Reading in January 2020.

"Going to America helped me to mature not only as a goalkeeper but as a person, being away so far from home for the first time," she said.

"I was fortunate in the league I was in that it was so competitive. It's an opportunity I'll never regret taking.

"I think at Clemson as well the athletes community was so tight knit, I've got friends who play in the NFL and are on the PGA Tour, and when you have that support from players who are in an even bigger spotlight than you are I think that helps you grow and learn."

She has been part of the England set-up since youth level and has caps at under 17s, under 19s, under 20s and under 21s level.

MacIver was part of the England squad that won the bronze medal in the 2018 Under 20s World Cup in France, and was awarded the Golden Glove as the tournament's best goalkeeper.

MacIver was named in the England senior team's travelling party during the 2019 SheBelieves Cup and trained with the team during the tournament but was not part of the playing squad.